


Doing Nothing

by ami_ven



Category: Stargate Atlantis
Genre: Community: mcsheplets, Future Fic, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-08
Updated: 2016-05-08
Packaged: 2018-06-07 02:46:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 698
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6782254
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ami_ven/pseuds/ami_ven
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jeannie’s granddaughter asks John for dating advice.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Doing Nothing

**Author's Note:**

> written for LJ community "mcsheplets" prompt #227 "passion"

“But how do you _know_ , Uncle John?” asked Annie, thumping down on the couch beside him.

John turned to look at her, amazed as he always was how much Madison’s oldest daughter had grown since the last time they’d been on Earth. She was about sixteen now, he realized, and he really hoped she wasn’t asking about what he thought she was asking about.

“Know what?” he asked.

“When you find real love,” she replied, confirming his worst suspicions.

“And what makes you think _I’d_ know?” John asked her.

Annie snorted. “Please. You and Uncle Mer are so ridiculously in love, it’d be disgusting if it wasn’t so cute.”

“We’re not cute,” he pouted.

She chose to ignore him. “I mean, you’re all old now, but you still hold hands and everything.” Annie paused, smiling, then added more seriously, “It’s just… I can _see_ how much you love him, Uncle John. Mom, and Grandma, and… pretty much everybody else, are always telling me how much I’m like Uncle Mer. So, I figured, if I knew why _you_ love _him_ , I’d know what to look for in somebody to love _me_.”

John had the sudden, vivid image of a much younger Rodney, blue eyes worried and hopeful, asking what he’d done to make John love him, so he could keep doing it and never risk losing him.

“Oh, kiddo,” said John, pulling Annie into a fierce hug. “You are _so much_ like your uncle, you wouldn’t believe it. I hate to break it to you, but he never did figure out an equation for that.”

“I’m a lot younger than he was, I’ve got time,” she muttered into John’s shoulder.

He laughed, and pushed her back gently. “Okay, you wanna know what I know? What I have used my years of training and decades of experience to learn?”

She eyed him warily. “What?”

“Find somebody you want to do nothing with,” John said, sagely.

Annie frowned. “Nothing?”

“It’s a very tricky thing to do with the wrong people,” he told her. “You’re probably young enough to believe all that stuff in those awful rom-coms, about meeting the ‘perfect person’ and having marathons of athletic sex on every available surface. And I’m not saying that’s not fun—”

“Ew, Uncle John, gross.”

“—or that you shouldn’t give it a try, once you’re old enough—”

“Seriously, _gross_.”

“—and don’t tell your mother I said that,” he continued, ignoring her. “But a real relationship, you know, like me and Uncle Mer have… that just takes really getting to know each other. To the point where you can just sit together, doing absolutely nothing. Not talking, or sleeping, or anything. And that takes time. Which, I know, is the worst thing you can say to a teenager.”

“You think _that’s_ the worst thing you just said?” Annie asked.

“You’re not putting ridiculous romantic notions into that girl’s head, are you, Sheppard?” said Rodney, stomping across the living room to stand in front of him. “Because she has the potential to be one of the greatest minds of her generation— even if her father _is_ an accountant— and she doesn’t need to be brainwashed by the idea of True Love’s First Kiss.”

John grinned. “I dunno, McKay,” he drawled. “Ours was pretty spectacular.”

“That console exploding was entirely unrelated to the fact that you kissed me,” Rodney protested.

“Says you,” John argued, still grinning.

“Of course, says me,” said Rodney. “Which of us is the brilliant scientist and which is the retired laze-about?”

“That’s Retired _General_ Laze-About, thank you.”

Rodney crossed his arms. “I was going to tell you that dinner was ready, but now I don’t think I will.”

John stood, his grin sliding into something softer, hands catching Rodney’s elbows. “Didn’t think that one through, did you, buddy?” he laughed.

Rodney’s expression softened, too. “See if I tell you now,” he said, and let John pull him in for a kiss.

“C’mon, guys, really?” groused Annie— but she thought, a few minutes later, watching John slide his chair close enough to Rodney’s that their knees brushed under the long dining table, maybe that kind of love really was worth the wait.

THE END


End file.
